May's post-Brexit immigration policy could make it difficult for the UK to fill key roles in the food industry

LONDON - Britain faces
having to train an expensive group of animal inspectors after
Brexit to replace work currently carried out by European Union
staff, but senior vets have warned that the UK may struggle to
find enough qualified staff under its strict new immigration
policy.

A team of 170 European Commission staff currently carry out
hundreds of inspections a year around the world, visiting farms
and production facilities to ensure that they comply with the
EU's strict controls on food imports.

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Prime Minister Theresa May intends to roll all EU law into UK law
after Brexit, meaning that it could be required to carry out its
own inspections but unable to access EU staff as easily as
before.

Gudrun Ravetz, president of the British Veterinary Association,
told the Financial Times that the UK's immigration policy
would need to accommodate EU vets after Brexit.

He said: "The government will have to ensure that we have enough
veterinary surgeons to undertake these essential roles. Our
current workforce of official veterinarians is heavily reliant on
non-British EU vets and that is why the BVA has been lobbying
hard for the government to guarantee the ongoing working rights
of our EU colleagues in the UK."

Upcoming EU work this year reportedly includes trips to inspect
poultry in Morocco, fish in Canada, and cows and pigs in
Malaysia, Singapore, and South Africa.

The Conservative party committed earlier in May to cut
immigration to "tens of thousands" from its current figure, which
was around 273,000 last year.

The UK Food Standards Agency told the Financial Times: "Food
safety audit and assurance is being considered as part of wider
work looking at potential audit and assurance arrangements after
the UK leaves the EU."